Because there are over 750,000 self-pubbed and 250,000 books published a year and they won't all get reviews in the NYTBR. Authored by M.J. Rose

AuthorBuzz.com

AuthorBuzzHelp Yourself! IF NO ONE KNOWS YOUR BOOK EXISTS THEY WON'T BUY IT.
Authorbuzz.com is M.J.'s one stop book marketing solution for authors and publishers. Reach 600,000 readers (and up), leaders of more than 35,000 bookclubs, 3000 booksellers & 12,000 librarians via AuthorBuzz notes.
Reach millions more via blog ad or Goodreads or Facebook campaigns.
We work with all the top publishers and hundreds of wonderful writers every year and do over 70% repeat business.

Interesting Tidbits and Links

Best Review I Ever Got
I used to read books like this [The Hypnotist by M.J. Rose] before I discovered smutty worlds filled with vampires and shape shifters. But this book reminded me I liked to read books like this. It even had just humans in it and I still liked it. -- Samantha at Fiction Vixen Book Reviews

July 31, 2008

An interesting article on 'Branded Language'. I think what it says about product applies to authors also. Think about Patterson, King, Roberts... how long took and what consistency there was in message.

Some excerpts:

Disney, Kellogg's, and Gillette are three completely different brands with one commonality. Over the past decade, they've established a branded language, whether they know it or not. In my latest book, we found 74 percent of today's consumers associate the word "crunch" with Kellogg's. Another 59 percent consider the word "masculine" and Gillette as one and the same. Americans formed the strongest association of masculinity to Gillette, by an astounding 84 percent.

To create a truly smashable brand requires consistency and patience. This is difficult, in a corporate world where the only constant is ever changing branding strategies and CMOs. Add to this a fluctuating financial market that demands instant results, and the brand message becomes just another bit of brand information in an overcrowded field. With annual reports, TV commercials, and Web sites often handled by different divisions, you loose any opportunity for language synergy.

It takes years for words, phrases, and sentences to be identified and accepted as belonging to specific brands.

The first step to integrate specific language into your brand is to identify the words you want to own. Select them based on those words that best reflect your brand's personality. Choose words that are easy to integrate in many different kinds of sentences and are the most flexible.

Typically, these mini-applications deliver free information or entertainment:world clocks, surf reports, stock tickers, photo collages, desktop games, music downloads, trivia challenges, and the like.When you create a widget, you’re putting together content in an easily-transferable format that others will hopefully want to pull onto their own web pages (like MySpace or iGoogle), be it fans of gangster movies or people who like a daily dose of sports funnies.

When you imagine widgets, think of The Borg… once it’s disseminated, the application stays in contact with the original creator.Therefore, it can be updated on an ongoing basis, with fresh content “pushed” to the end users.

Here’s one author that took a crack at them (scroll down to bottom right). But remember campers, the most effective widgets provide entertainment or desirable information.So if you’re an author thinking of creating a widget, you should be asking yourself:“What can I provide to fans or the general public that’s fun or useful enough for them to keep on their homepage?”

Author tour dates, contests, new releases… that stuff should be on your author homepage, but is it such compelling information that masses of people will want daily updates?And would you be diligent in continually updating that information before pushing it out to your fans?

Widgets would probably be better served to help promote the authors of an aggregate blog.There’s more information, more available content, more opportunity for daily updates.Better yet, why not provide information that doesn’t directly promote yourself, but ties into your novel’s themes?

If you’re Carl Hiaasen – mystery writer and champion for Florida’s ecological preservation – why not create a countdown clock that ticks down the remaining acres in the Everglades? That would be something that tree-huggers around the world would want to wake up to.

Gregory Huffstutter has been punching Ad Agency timecards for the past decade, working on accounts like McDonald's, KIA Motors, and the San Diego Padres. He recently finished his first mystery, KATZ CRADLE and is currently on submission. The first 100 pages of his novel are linked here. For general advertising questions, leave a comment or send e-mail to katz @ gregoryhuffstutter dot com with 'Ask The Ad Man' in the subject line.

More about movies and marketing that we need to be following:Fox began doing public screenings of its upcoming DVDs last summer, when it was one of several studios to participate in a summer movie series held Sunday nights outdoors at the W Hotel in Los Angeles. This year, Fox signed an exclusive deal with the W to screen only its films in the series and branched out to the W in New Orleans, with an eye toward expanding even further. Continue reading.

Sony announced on Thursday that its Reader Digital Book will be able to read electronic books published using the .epub format that many of the largest book publishers are using. Continue reading here.

Do you Twitter? Are you crashing the system? Is it stupid? Maybe, but its infectious. And "Now we use Twitter to get the fastest, most honest research any company ever heard — the good, bad and ugly — and it doesn't cost a cent..." Continue reading here.

July 28, 2008

If you'll pour another glass of wine, I'll put on some music and then we can get busy.

It's good to know that some things are a lock for getting one's attention. So what does drinking, music and sex have to do with today's Linktopia? Over at Last.fm they've figured out how to make ads more interactive.

Aside from enabling ad messages that can react to music, the new site design allows ads that are based on and can "reflect" the music or activity on the page. For instance, ads can also now include interactive elements, such as maps with concert listings for the artist being played. They can also peddle tickets to shows and let people make hotel reservations near concert sites.You can read more here.

Meanwhile, over at blog.futurelab there's an in-depth piece that asks the question - How do you market a product that your customers know is bad before they try it, and which they may well dislike if they do? That’s the dilemma faced by makers of boxed wines - even those of high quality that would fare well in a blind tasting. You can read how they solved the problem here.

And as far as sex, well, in a nod to popular culture we acknowledge Kramer on Seinfeld:

Kramer You don't eat Oreos? The way you break them open? You're ~ practically having sex with them.

And with that in mind you'll enjoy an Oreo campaign that I'm guessing has the Freudians talking. Watch it here.

Over at Galleycat is a very disturbing note from an editor talking about how when a book fails everyone blames the author when in reality, in most cases it's the publisher's fault.I work as an editor at a major house...Nine times out of ten the author is
blamed for poor sales; even though, the house more often than not does
support the author in marketing the book. As an editor I can assure you
that I have too many books to edit and there are too many books to
promote. Why is it a safe bet to blame the author? Because we all want
to keep our jobs, that's why. What I am telling you is very important
because it will give you some insight into the mindset of publishers
today. The bottom line is this: When sales are good we all pat
ourselves on the back and take credit, but when sales are bad, we find
fault with the author, when in fact many times the poor results are our
own fault!

What's telling about the vote at the end - asking what "you" think goes wrong they list everything but "not enough marketing." They do mention the "publicity" failing... but in today's marketplace there's so little available publicity anyway, no one should be relying on publicity to get a book out there. Esp with fiction!!!

Of everything, it won't come as a surprise to readers of this blog that I believe lack of marketing is the reason most books fail. If no one knows the book exists, no one can buy it and publishers simply don't have enough money or time or creative thinking to give every book the marketing it needs to break through the clutter.

July 27, 2008

Its been a while since I've seen anything this good. Its not for a book but it shows you how much you can accomplish in a very short period of time in film using words and pictures together and how memorable something needs to be to get pass along.

July 25, 2008

Listen to me make a royal fool of myself, in fabulous company, in the most recent Litopia After Dark podcast!

Dear Dr. Sue,

I tend to be a really enthusiastic person, and I just sold my first novel to a really prestigious publisher but instead of being thrilled, I feel detached. I don't know why this is, though I've thought that maybe I'm too afraid that something is going to go wrong to allow myself to be happy about it, or maybe I want to be under the radar so as not to be embarrassed if things do go wrong, or maybe it's something else. But while I recognize that this is ridiculous, I can't seem to shake this feeling of detachment. Do you have any advice?

Would like to feel thrilled

Dear Like,

Congratulations on the sale of your novel! Of course you want to be fully engaged with such an exciting experience.

The possible reasons you list for your feeling of detachment seem plausible. The transition from omnipotent creator of an entire world to cog in an unstable machine that will determine the fate of that world is jarring and fraught, and emotional withdrawal would be an understandable reaction. Other possibilities include a jealous or competitive family member or important friend whose continued love and support require you to stay in a "one-down" position; a major life change or decision you have postponed until your novel was out of limbo; or the revival of grief for a lost loved one who would have delighted in this triumph. Or, as you say, maybe it's something else.

As you suggest, to dissolve this bubble that surrounds you it is probably necessary to identify the material it is composed of. One important step in accomplishing this is to ease up on characterizations like "ridiculous." There are always valid reasons for seemingly incomprehensible responses--and when we judge our emotions harshly (as so many of us have been trained to do), the information that would help us understand and address our conflicts tends to bury itself deeper in our unconscious.

Try outlining a story whose main character is on the verge of realizing the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. This character--let's call her or him "X"--is sympathetic but complex and somewhat conflicted. Flesh the backstory out with as much detail as possible--what is X's family and cultural background? What dream is about to come true, and what obstacles has X overcome to get to this point? Who has helped or hindered X in this quest? What are the likely repercussions of failure? Of success? What would it take for the story to end well--or unhappily?

Don't use your own experience--use your writer's imagination to create a unique set of circumstances. Try to live in X's world for a day or two, supplying as much information, and as many insights into the central conflict, as you can.

When you feel finished with X's story, sit down in a quiet place and reflect on your own. Outline your situation and its background as you did X's, as though you were the main character in a fascinating story (which you are). How would you understand a character who is unable to get excited about a major positive life event? How would you resolve such a conflict?

If you come up dry--or if you hit on material that threatens to overwhelm you--stop the exercise. Remember, your responses are in place for a reason--and the reason may be to protect you from intense anxiety or grief. Consider consulting a professional. You deserve to savor every moment of this process, and expert help in addressing any issues that prevent you from full engagement and participation is is a sound investment.

By M.J. Rose

M. J. Rose: The Collector of Dying Breaths: A Novel of Suspense
Indie Next Pick Amazon Best of April Mystery/Suspense
"Gripping--a suspenseful and enigmatic story... captivating... compelling, imaginative." (Kirkus)
"A page-turning, alluring concoction of fiction infused with fantastical yet actual history. Readers will be mesmerized by her enchanting narrative, which takes them on a mystical and magical journey." (Library Journal - Starred
"Rose masterfully combines romance, mystery, and dual timelines…The storyline and extensive historical details…are fascinating.” (Romantic Times TOP PICK))
"Mysterious, magical, and mythical…what a joy to read!" (Sara Gruen, New York Times bestselling author of Water for Elephants)

M. J. Rose: Seduction: A Novel of SuspenseIndie Next List.
Intriguing, absorbing, and utterly captivating, Seduction will leave you begging for a sequel." —Books & Books
"Mysterious, haunting, and tragic, Seduction emerges as a suspenseful alchemy of potent ingredients, beautifully blended, that ignites your senses and leaves you aching for more." (Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet )
"Seduction is an absolute pleasure to read -- clever, suspenseful, exciting, mysterious, learned, and engrossing. Some of the best historical fiction I've read in quite some time and just plain reading fun. M.J. Rose is at the top of her game, and that is saying something." (David Liss, bestselling author of The Twelfth Enchantment )

M. J. Rose: The Book of Lost Fragrances: A Novel of SuspenseINDIE NEXT PICK
SUSPENSE Best of 2012
PW Best of Mystery/Suspense Spring 2012
"Deliciously sensual...Rose imbues her characters with rich internal lives in a complex plot that races to a satisfying finish." (Publisher's Weekly (starred and boxed)
"Compelling... suspenseful tale. Once you catch a whiff, you will be enchanted". - Associated Press
"Rose has entered another realm and written what is bound to be one of this year's best books." -- Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"The Book of Lost Fragrances by M.J. Rose is an amazing novel, an utterly engrossing thriller that weaves together reincarnation, ancient Egypt, international intrigue, and a lost book of fragrances. Elegantly written, with unforgettable characters and flawlessly realized international settings, here is a novel that will keep you up all night—and leave you with powerful feelings of revelation, wonder, and the infinitude of human possibility." —New York Times bestselling author Douglas Preston

Seen on FOXTV as PAST LIFE : The Reincarnationist THE REINCARNATIONIST. Starred Library Journal Review. Starred Publisher's Weekly Review. Booksense Pick for September and 2007 Highlight List.
"A fascinating story of reincarnation that is one of the year's most ambitious and entertaining thrillers." - David Montgomery - Chicago Sun-Times

People Magazine Pick of the Week : The Memorist "Gripping… Rose once again skillfully blends past and present with a new set of absorbing characters in a fascinating historical locale." - Starred Review, Library Journal ------------------------------
"Rose's fascinating follow up to The Reincarnationist... skillfully blends past life mysteries with present day chills. The result is a smashing good read." -Starred Review, Publisher's Weekly